TV Clip from Gloria Live 1990 – Julia Hailes and Bernadette Valleley debating dark and light greens
One of the themes that emerged after we wrote The Green Consumer Guide was the value of light greens vs dark greens. The argument was that green consumers were ‘light greens’ and weren’t really doing nearly enough to help the planet. On the other side there were the dark greens, who were opposed to consumerism […]
TV Clips compilation of Julia Hailes talking about waste and packaging – 1988-1990.
Recycling was probably the most popular green consumer issue because people could really understand what they could do. Quite often it was the only environmental thing they were prepared to do! Here I’m talking about recycled loo paper, overloaded landfill sites, saving energy, recycled materials, Mcdonalds cartons, egg boxes etc… “As we fill more and […]
Meeting Giraffe (Nov12)
80% of all product related environmental impacts happen at the design phase. That’s key to Giraffe’s work. Melinda Watson and I, with our E for Good hats on, went to talk to Rob Holdway and Celena Fernandez about e-waste issues. We discovered that we had a lot in common. Rob was involved in creating the […]
Skydiving to raise money for Haller (Jun12)
Not me! My son is planning a sky dive to support Haller. He will be free falling at 130 miles per hour from 10,000 feet. I’m glad it’s not me. Haller is a charity that I co-founded – it supports sustainable communities in Africa, with programmes in water, farming, education, health, alternative energy […]
Project Dirt Judging (Jun12)
Timberland Earthkeepers Grant are providing grants to grassroots community projects. Set up by Project Dirt it’s the third year that I’ve been on the judging panel. Deadline for submissions is 1st July and winners will be announced on 9th July.
Setting up E For Good (Apr12)
Along with Melinda Watson from the Raw Foundation, I’ve set up E For Good. We’re the first consumer-facing organisation targeting e-waste from an environmental life-cycle perspective. Our aims are to reduce the amount of e-waste, promote repair and reuse and recycle the rest, as efficiently as possible. We’re working with Environcom, an e-waste company, who […]
Supermarket refrigeration – Chilling Facts IV now out (Feb12)
It’s the fourth year of the Chilling Facts campaign, which I helped conceive. Run by the Environmental Investigation Agency’s (EIA), the initiative aims to reduce the climate change impacts of supermarket refrigeration. We’re encouraging them to move away from HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons) to more climate-friendly alternatives. This year’s, results from UK retailers have shown a 44% […]
Inspiring E-Waste Company Leads on Re-use (Sept11)
Sean Feeney from EnvironCom standing on fridge foam bits Washing machines being tested I’m rather surprised to discover that there are quite a few people who don’t know what E-Waste is. I mentioned our E-Waste Campaign, when I was speaking to a large audience last week – and someone asked me to clarify. That […]
We need more computer re-use (Aug11)
We travelled up to Arnos Grove – an area of London I’d never been to before. My companion was Melinda Watson, who has set up the E-Waste Campaign with me. We’d arranged to look round the office and depot of Computer Aid. The factory floor was piled high with computer parts – hard drives, circuit […]
The E-Waste Campaign (Mar11)
I’m working with Melinda Watson from the Raw Foundation to set up an E-Waste campaign. The WEEE man, whose head is in the photo on the left illustrates the amount of waste one person will throw away in a lifetime. WEEE stands for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. But the WEEE man was made about a decade ago, so if another one […]
Chilling Facts about supermarket refrigeration and cooling systems (Mar11)
The Environmental Investigation Agency’s (EIA) Chilling Facts campaign began in 2008. Since then – it’s now in its third year – we have seen significant progress by UK supermarkets in reducing the global warming impact of their refrigeration and cooling systems. I helped to get the campaign up and running and have been a judge ever […]
Shops aren’t closing doors (Feb11)
I went into Jessops in Yeovil on a cold winter evening. The door of the shop was open and the hot air was being pumped out into the street. They’re not alone. When I looked up and down the precinct I realised that there were more shops with their doors open than closed. […]